The Team
Lab members
Carla Nowosad
Principal Investigator | Head of Lab
Carla is the Principal Investigator of the Mucosal B Cell lab at NYU Langone Grossman School of Medicine, department of Pathology. Carla has long been obsessed with B cells and how they respond to their environment. She loves to build new tools to visualize B cells communicating, responding and evolving.
Carla is a Polish/Italian Brit, who got her PhD in London before moving to the US for her postdoctoral studies. Carla has a deep love for New York City, slowly eating, strolling and dancing her way around town. Carla loves creative and driven people, and strives to build a team of diverse thinkers to help grow the future of science.
Sigrid Eisner
Research Technician
Sigrid works in the lab as an Assistant Research Scientist. She got to know Carla and her science while working with her at Rockefeller University some years ago. Sigrid was excited to hear Carla was starting up her very own Mucosal B Cell laboratory at NYU, and she became even more excited when given the opportunity to come join the lab and help get it started.
Sigrid helps manage the lab by ordering and maintaining inventory, as well as making sure the mice and cells are good.
Luan Firmino Cruz
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Luan got his Immunology and Inflammation PhD in Rio de Janeiro before joining the Mucosal B Cell lab in 2022 as its first postdoctoral fellow. Luan has worked in the B cell field since 2015 in the contexts of parasitic infection and vaccines against leishmaniasis and COVID-19.
Luan’s new scientific adventures aim to understand how TLR signaling affects intestinal B cells in steady state. He is very resourceful when it comes to problem solving - a trait which stems from his Brazilian heritage. A nature lover, Luan is now discovering himself as a city enthusiast in the ‘concrete jungle’ of the Big Apple.
Audrey Thomas
Immunology and Inflamation Graduate Student
Audrey hails from Michigan and obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology from Kalamazoo College in 2019. After graduating, Audrey studied Clostridioides difficile toxin structures and functions at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her love of microscopy, gut microbiota, and mucosal immunity led her to join the Mucosal B Cell lab as a graduate student in March 2022.
Audrey is interested in whether the presence of gut microbiota fundamentally influences the germinal center program and B cell functioning. An old soul, Audrey enjoys reading nonfiction in Central Park, cooking, and snuggling her rabbit, Juniper.
Lucía Contreras Malo de Molina
Visiting Student Intern
Lucía is a student intern who's helping to study the Germinal Centre B cells in the Mucosal B Cell Lab during her stay. She is an undergraduate of Biotechnology and Pharmacy.
Lucía is a Spanish girl who loves to travel and to know different places all around the world. She also loves live concerts and going to the beach.
Lab Alumni
Lab Photos
